








= he Meilical Society 


TEA Dak as Ee SEF SS saad me 


MIDDLETON MICHEL, M. D., 


- {ON RETIRING FROM ITS PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR. 


sas Hee 


. Medical ‘Society of the State of. South 
Carolina, with brief Notices of some 
of the brilliant men of the Profes- 
sion whose names illuminate — 


. 
A Sketch of the Origin and History of the | 








hes ~ its records. 


CHARLESTON, §.-C.: 


_ Epwakp Pass & Co., Pian AND STATIONERS, 
epee No. ou Meeting Street, Opposite Charleston Hotel. 
my 1889. : ; 





ADDRESS 


TO 


The Wedical Society 


) 
a 


MIDDLETON MICHEL, M. D., 


ON RETIRING FROM ITS PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR. 


A Sketch of the Origin and History of the 
Medical Society of the State of South 
Carolina, with brief Notices of some 
of the brilliant men of the Profes- 
sion whose names illuminate 


its records. 
—s se EE 


CHARLESTON, 8S. C.:: 
Kpwarpd Perry & Co., PRINTERS AND STATIONERS, 
No. 217 Meeting Street, Opposite Charleston Hotel. 


1889, © 





At the request of many friends and members of the Medics 7 
time of its delivery, the following address, with certait 
additions, will be read with interest as bearing up 
Centennial Anniversary. 


NOILOSTI00 SH4MO14 FHL 


ADDRESS. 


(GENTLEMEN : 

In fulfilling the obligatory duty which devolves upon 
each retiring president of this Society, an appreciative sense 
of the exceptional partiality received at your hands admon- 
ishes me that I am not engaged, on this particular occasion, 
in the simple discharge of a perfunctory performance; for 
T cannot but recall the friendly solicitations at the time, 
which, invited and urged me to preside over your delibera- 
tions; nor can I forget the yet more flattering request, when 
my term of office had expired that I should continue as 
your presiding ofticer for yet another term. This compli- 
mentary nomination, to which it pleased you all so readily 
to respond, I need not assure you was as unexpected as it 
was touching. For so courteous an evidence of your esteem 
I can only beg you now to accept the thanks of one who 
finds himself so largely indebted. 

Especially do I appreciate the honor which my _ col- 
leagues were not unwilling to bestow since we should 
regard it no inconsiderable distinction to have presided 
over a Society that enrolls among its members most 
distinguished names; and whose early foundation, nearly 
one hundred years ago, confers upon it the prestige of an 
antiquity almost coeval with our republic. Indeed, when 
this home of our childhood and of cur riper years was 
essentially a city of wooden buildings, with scarcely twenty 
brick residences through a line of one mile’s extent—when 
old Charlestown wore the aspect of a primeval town, tra- 
versed by creeks, intersected with marshes, defaced by 
narrow lanes and unpaved streets—reminiscences of the 
past, erased forever now from the memory of our genera- 
tion in the steady march of municipal civilization; [ say, in 
those almost immemorial days for us, in the year 1789, 
among the fifty odd physicians whose names we read in 
some antiquated directory as we would their tombstones in 





| 


a grave yard, it occurred to two or three of their meen ee 
that there was talent enough among the profession to organ- 
ize a Medical Society, the better to establish harmony of 
feeling, concert of action, and to communicate and diffuse 
knowledge. 

The initiative in this movement seems to haye been taken 
by Dr. Peter Fayssoux, since it was at his residence that 
Dr. David Ramsay and Dr. Alexander Barron met in De- 
cember, 1789, for the fulfilment of this commendable pur- 
pose. With the distinguished pen whose services on such 
an occasion must have been called into requisition in the 
person of our renowned historian, biographer, and physi- 
cian, David Ramsay, it is reasonable to infer that the very 
by-laws and constitution of our Society were drafted, which 
invests this document with historic value, should this con- 
jecture be true; while we are led at once indulgently to 
condone any of its imperfections which the changes of time 
and circumstances may have wrought. 

The primordial meetings of this ancient organization were 
held in alternate succession at its member's residences until 
the Society increased in numbers too considerable to trespass 
further upon private hospitality. They then sought natu- 
rally the unrestrained and more comimodious resorts; first 
of Harris’ Tavern, then of William’s Inn—places diffientt 
to locate now that old Charleston may be said to have “gone 
out of town,” but fitly suggestive, in those days, of powdered 
wigs, with cues, and knee-breeches; and of the English 
love of sueh retreats, where freedom of debate and the irre- 
pressible mirth of convivial meetings are ever realistic of 
Shenston’s declaration, that: 

“Who’er has travelled life's dull round, 
Where’er his stages may have been, 

May sigh to think he still has found 
The warmest weleome at an Inn.” 

The syvmiposiac reunions and disputations of this memora- 
ble little band of a few congenial spirits, assembled in those 
days of yore when no novitiate was considered fully equipped 
for such occasions until he carried his bottle under his belt, 


5 
we may readily imagine were often continued until the 
wintry tread of the spontooned watchman was searcely heard, 
or not even his sonorous voice as it called the hour of one, 
perhaps of fro, on the “drowsy ear of night.” 
But curiosity sends us out in search of those historic 

sites where: 

“The windows of the wayside Inn 

Gleamed red with firelight through the leaves.” 


and thus we are able to state that William’s Coftee House 
was at the corner of Tradd Street and Beadon’s Alley, while 
Harris’ Tavern was in after years better known to us all as the 
French Coftee House, at the corner of East Bay and Union 
Alley. These quaint and ancient /osfeleries, which then 
served for social clubs and banquet halls, were thus made 
distinguished also for the scientific gatherings of our mem- 
bers once every month. 

“Built in the old colonial day, 

With ample hospitality ; 

A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall, 

Now somewhat fallen to decay, 

With weather stains upon the wall, 

And stairways worn, and crazy doors, 

And creaking and uneven floors, 

And chimneys huge and tiled and tall.”’ 


The Socicty needing a more permanent locality for its 
wrchives, books and meetings, were offered at a later period 
the South-west room on the second floor of the Court 
Ifouse, which was occupied as the Medical Society’s library 
and room until they removed to an appartment in the Medi- 
cal College. Here our meetings were held until transferred 
to the present specially prepared hall for our use within the 
Roper Hospital. 

But the advantages of this social gathering, and its con- 
templated utility to the profession were not the sole object 
with these gentlemen. A reference to the early circum- 
stances which also actuated them, discloses a project, the 
history of which is but little known in its details to the 
present generation, and to this let me call attention, as it is 


6 


eminently proper always to recognize and remember those 
who initiated the idea and planed the organization of a 
charity, that was ultimately carried out more effectually and 
perpetuated as a permanent public charity through the 
generous donations and bequests of others. It appears, as 
[ tind andas I have elsewhere stated,* that the establishmentof 
a Dispensary for dispensing medicines and furnishing medical 
attendance to the poor was one of the contemplated objects 
of those who founded the Medical Society of the State of 
South Carolina. . 

The plan of such acharity was dratted contemporaneously 
With the constitution of this Society and an elaborate ad- 
dress, very shortly afterwards, setting forth all the advan- 
tages that would attend upon its operations, was prepared, 
discussed, and being amended was presented in published 
form to our citizens. The members, in realization of their 
cherished design, organized themselves into a corps who 
were to officiate in rotation while the older imembers were 
to act as consulting Physicians, and for sixteen years the 
poor received the gratuitous counsel and kind ministrations 
of certain members of the profession. It was our benefi- 
cent profession, and the members of this Society, then, who 
followed the poor in their wretched retreats, and sought the 
secret pleasure of a generous act wherever they found that 
misery and want had retired to die. This truly was the 
origin of our public charities which antidated, and obvi- 
ously suggested the several memorable bequests which fol- 
lowed in its wake. 

Public attention was so often impressed with the benefi- 
cent results of this combined movement on the part of the 
Medical fraternity, that most gratifying resolutions were 
often published commending the skill and diligence and 
humane attention bestowed without recompense. 

It was the benevolent Alexander Shirras who, in 1810, 
bequeathed a number of houses and lots to the Intendent 
of Charleston, President of the Medical Society, and to the 





Charleston Year Book, 1880, 


7 

President of St. Andrew’s Society, in trust, for the benefit 
of the sick poor, declaring in his will that he was actuated . 
by a desire “to mitigate the sufferings of the distressed, 
ease the inhabitants, and assist the Medical gentlemen in 
their humane intentions.” Council honored this donation 
in 1813 by the establishment of the Dispensary known as 
Shirras’ Dispensary. The services of the physicians were 
continued until 1818, however, without charge. The subse- 
quent history of this bequest is well known, and in’ active 
operation with such changes as a lapse of eighty years have 
wrought, the Dispensary stands yet at the corner of Meeting 
and Society Streets, a monument to Caledonia’s generous 
son, and in the vault of the City Treasury are securities, 
the interest from which contributes daily to the wants and 
comfort of a large proportion of the indigent sick of our 
City. 

Again, under the friendly auspices of this Society, and 
quite within the memory of its present members, came the 
benevolent donation of Col. Thomas Roper. This bequest 
was given and devised to the Medical Society, which body 
constitutes the Trustees of the fund. Under their manage- 
ment, with such accessions to the fund from private and 
public sources, the present Roper Hospital was erected. 
Beneath the shelter of this charity hundreds have received 
medical and surgical aid; while it has also served, under 
the professional control of the Faculty of the Medical Col- 
lege, to offer ample facilities for the advancement of medical 
education in all the departments of our science, particularly 
in the acquirement of that practical knowledge that can 
only be derived from the clinical instruction of its pro- 
fessors. 

No sooner was this Society established than the munici- 
pal authorities: consulted its members on all matters relating 
to public health and medical police; and it is interesting to 
note that as early as 1795 an able communication, emana- 
ting from this body to Council, enjoined the necessity of 
careful inspection of premises for the abatement of nuisances : 
advocating the planting of trees for purifying the atmos- 


8 


phere; that land be purchased beyond the corpe 
of the City as a burial ground, (advising evet 
mural interments); while, in a reply to the Go 
State, objections were incisively urged against | 
low lots and extension of streets with putrefying 
proposing, at the same time, the introduction 6 
from the surrounding country as conducive to Ty 
potable and culinary uses. Mere, in the very con 
haustive report to which I refer, was obviou 
foundation of future Boards of Health among 

In connection with such a subject, as exhibiti 
interest in and knowledge of most matters ap 
Ilygiene as then understood, it is curious to rela 
dation again of a “Humane Society,’ which took 
in this body. Provision was herein made amon; 
bers to furnish immediate aid in all cases of | 
animation, especially among the drowned, and a) 
were purchased and distributed among the wharves 
City, with accompanying directions for their use. 

We have also to chronicle the foundation and — 
tion of another enterprise called the Botanical O 
in the vear 1805. For the furtherance of this 
Medical Society subscribed fifty dollars annualh 
nated a large lot of land belonging to them, th 
of Mrs. Turpin, and when the funds reached f 
$1176, the Botanical Garden, better known to 
perhaps, as old Tivoli Garden, went into efficien 
soon becoming enriched with many varieties of in 
and exotic planta systematically arranged upon. 
most approved scientific basis of classification. To 
was attractive within its graceful enclosure, the pu 
invited, as an agreeable resort, but more pa u 
profitable school of instruction. It was here that M st 
N. Nicollet, member of the French ‘Acadeng ae Scie 
the great explorer of our Western rivers and ickeua 
guest at my father’s house, made his astronomical ob 
tions. 

Such enlarged, such liberal views, consorted 


_ 


































i) 


energy that invested them all with life and veritable exist- 
tanee could not fail to attract and impress the public mind 
throughout the country, as this Medical Society stood fore- 
most among the earliest organizations of the kind in the 
States after the Revolution. *That it cid indeed inspire 
many throughout our own State with a similar spirit of 
progress was manifested in a very few years by certain 
physicians from the adjoining counties assembling in Union 
District and organizing an association which they called 
the Esculapean Society of South Carolina. 

Now, it would be an office full of importance, and seduc- 
tively attractive, could we perpetuate the minor details and 
workings of our Society during its pristine days—its days 
of usefulness and reputation—by home sketches, were they 
ever so meagre, of those then most prominent: but unfor- 
tunately with few if any records before us the memories of 
our oldest inhabitants are the chief annals we have been 
able to consult. 

Yet, the rehearsal of the roll-call: Peter Fayssoux, David 
Ramsay, Alexander Barron, Chalmers, Matthew Irying, Dal- 
cho, John Budd, Andrew Turnbull, Alexander Garden, Robt. 
Wilson, Elisha Poinsette, James Lynah, Geo. Logan, Joseph 
Johnson, Joseph Glover,&c., recalls names of which we are not 
wholly ignorant. But this vocal summons comes to us like 
an echo through the vista of the past. It treasures pleas- 
ant memories only with their names, for we would ‘wish to 
know more of those to whose early labors we assuredly owe 
much. Holding the dead in everlasting remembrance, we 
desire to keep them before us as though they were still 
living. We would wish to know what they did and how 
they lived, what they said and how they looked. Contem- 
poraries at a period when individual life was little merged 
into the vortex of busy existenee, it is strange, it is to be 
regretted that no graphic pen recorded their deeds, their 





*New Jersey State Medical Society was founded—I 7606. 
Massachusetts Medical Society—1781. 
College of Physicians, Philadelphia—1787. 
Medical Society of South Carolina—1789. 


10 




















usages of speech, their personal characteristics or physic 
appearances: for in those days we had not then invoked fl 


Sun’s mystic handiwork in its prepotency as the 
artists. 


S 


scarcely know anything. The antecedents of ones 
rectly affiliated with our present professional atti 
public, our executive importance and influence i in 
through an incorporated and: chartered institution 
own creation, bequeathed to us, so to speak, as. a 
would be listened to, most assuredly, with peculiar 
We find him inaugurating a movement, whieh, 
places him in immediate relation with his p 
brethren for all future time—convening his — 


establish this Society: Tradition pointed for 
years to that antiquated building, with its oriel 
and its quaint old architecture as the very house 1 
window of which General Marion, making his eseape 
the convivial restraints which interrupted his serious ¢ 
obligations, fell and fractured his leg. This house 
until recently, as a queer old monument to the epi 
its youth, but alas! the requirements of modern in 
ments in widening Friend Street, have, within the 
years, forever obliterated from our sight, this histor ‘i 
tige of a revolutionary incident. af 

Of Peter Fayssoux we do know that he possessed th 
vantages of an European education, took an active p 
our revolutionary struggles, was Surgeon-Geneaii if 
State, endured, as the record states, “ captivity with pa 
and exile with resignation; that at the close of 1 
he became a member of the Legislature, and took an i 


quinone which arose in the settlenient of our iy 
affairs. ; 

Our second President was Dr. Alex. Barron, then 
President of the St. Andrew’s Society, an office whiel 
held for twenty-eight years. 


11 


Born in the County of Merus, Scotland, graduated in the 
Marechal College of Aberdeen, and taking his degree under 
Dr. Gregory in the Medical School of Edinburg, he carried 
with him a refined scholarship and urbanity of manners 
which could not have failed in making an impression upon 
the society of the country of his adoption. His general 
erudition and felicity of expression—the foundation of the 
eristic element in our nature—in his case permitted him to 
share in any and every topic of discussion without any sem- 
blance of self-sufficiency which was so couspicuous that it 
became the subject of encomiastie remark: while his cheer- 
ful dignity of manner contributed to endear his companion- 
ship to all around him. 

We may imagine him even in advanced old age partici- 
pating at the annual banquet of our Society, held in those 
days at William’s Tavern, and here, as at St. Andrew’s, 
taking the lead, as the venerable Mitchell King has recorded 
of him in the “ home-born verse” of his native country by 
lis favorite song, “The Lass of Pattie’s Mill.” Mr. King 
says: ‘‘there was something so delightful in his manner, so 
exhilarating yet so remote from levity in his mirth that 
gravity itself seemed pleased, the young gave freer scope to 
their merriment, and the old almost thought that they were 
young again.” 

We have always learned that none stood higher in the 
profession. lis acquirements and early training aptly fitted 
him tor the remarkable success in practice which secured a 
large income, and made his councils so valuable to his pro- 
fessional brethren, and to the recipients of his medical skill. 

Ifis memory should be cherished with us, his name always 
mentioned with veneration and respect. 

The announcement of David Ramsay endows this Society 
with amonuwmentalname. Recall his literary laborsalone amidst 
all of his other avocations: his hallowed zeal for historic 
work, whose engrossing demands never halted at the cafeh- 
word of practical, but with undivided devotion to the inter- 
ests of the future Hterally inseribing his name on the pages 
of history, biography and medicine; let us remember him, 


12 


during John Hancock's illness, for a twelvemonth officiating 
in Congress as President virtually of the Continental Con- 
gress: and, then, we need only say that once upon a time 
in the very earliest period of our Society's record David 
Ramsay was our President also. 
JOHN BUDD. 

We cannot pretermit, however brief, a notice of Dr. 
Ramsay's partner, the facetious Dr. John Budd, one of the 
earliest members of this Society. We are told, that while 


he was a prisoner with Mr. George Flagg and some fifty” 


others, in St. Augustine, Florida, when General Greene’s 
threatened retaliation for the execution of Col. Hayne en- 
dangered their own safety, Budd said: “ Well, Flagg, the 
British have resolved to hoist the “flag” and nip the rebel- 
lion in the “bud.” Again, one of the earliest papers read 
before the Society was Dr. Budd's dissertation on fermented 
liquors, in which he stated that London porter was justly 
preferred to all other kinds, and that it had never been 
successfully imitated, because it appeared to him it must be 
made with Thames water at low-tide, near the London 
sridge, just where the river was the receptacle of every 
immundicity drifted into it from that great city. The 
graphic description he gave of the probable constituents of 
this water was such that many who were devoted advo- 
cates of this favorite beverage forever afterward abandoned 
its use, 
ALEXANDER GARDEN. 

For scientific attainments and an European reputation 
Dr. Alexander Garden stood facile princeps anong his col- 
leagues. Born in Scotland, he came to Charleston an ae- 
complished graduate of the Aberdeen University, having 
studied medicine under Dr. John Gregory. His sueeess in 
this City of his adoption was marked by the accumulation 
of a fortune whilst among us, and his fame was so great 
that in 1754 a professorship in the New York College, just 
then established, was tendered him, which he declined, as 
he was too deeply engrossed in his botanical researches and 


15 


discoveries in the balmy and incense-breathing South. — It 
Was among us that he discovered the most delicious and 
fragrant of flowering shrubs to which the illustrious Linnzeus 
gave the name of Gardenia in honor of him. Many tropical 
and subtropical plants were described for the first time by 
him in his varied publications; and the entire genus Gar- 
denia was dedicated to him by Ellis. He returned, however, 
to London to die there in 1792. An active member of our 
body, adding lustre to this organization both at home and 
in Europe his reputation was as extensive as it was com- 
mendable: this merited renown seems to have particularly 
chated Dr. Mottet, the associate partner of Dr. Richard 
Savage, for, annoyed by the frequent laudatory references to 
Dr. Garden onevery side he amused his friends by declaring 
that he too iad discovered an herb which he called Lucia in 
honor of his cook Lucy. As a scientist, a successful physi- 
cian and botanist of renown, Dr. Garden’s reputation was 
acquired here while a member of this Society, we may say 
an immortality indeed which descends to posterity ‘en- 
shrined in the petals of a flower.” 


MATTHEW IRVING. 


If among our colleagues at this early period in our history 
We look tor that éelat which is so indetectibly blended with 
a military career, then shall we turn with pride to the 
brother of General Wm. Irvine—Dr. Matthew Irving, a 
graduate of Philadelphia under Rush and Shippen. He 
took a conspicuous part as Surgeon to Lee’s legion, sharing 
the hardships and dangers of the tented field with the 
bravest of the brave; rushing into the fight as a volunteer 
uid to Green with that enthusiasm and unrest which refused 
to remain in the rear, and that pointed to his inherited 
inilitary proclivities, until he was wounded seriously just 
above the elbow at Quimby. Beneficent in his prompt 
ministrations to the wounded, extemporizing surgical ap- 
plances under trying circumstanees, and performing skill- 
fully operations on every side, he seems to have covered 
himself with glory. For ten years after the war we find 


. ed bai? 


l4 




























aeiey. 

In 1808, Dr. Joseph Johnson was elected Pres 
served the usual term of two years. He has 
record familiar to all in his most interesting “ 
and Reminiscences of the American Revolutior 
South.” At his house the Board of Examiners for 
physicians, appointed by the Society, held their 
meetings. In charge of costly instruments pure 
the Society, in those days that antedated our present W ve 
bureaux, he kept for many years the most accurate th 
metrical and barometrical records which were repe 
each monthly meeting and were of great value. 

Whatever might be recounted of the practice and pi pr 
of medicine in those days, of surgery we have no 1 
as this department of our science appears to have been ; 
ly in the hands of European practitioners—though the 
vess and daring spirit of our American people, W 
since so conspicuously developed itself in the perf 
of the most capital operations in surgery, was Som 
exhibited even in the hands of the w holly uninitiz 
Dr. Ramsay, in 1779, examined the stumps of a man fi 
Orangeburg whiose mangle leg had mee some ye 


common knife, ciate? Ss saw ne tongs—the toh 
told were used red-hot to staunch the. blood, as the 
no aid of any kind within sixty miles. Now it was 
department of our art so ignored and neglected th 
Joseph Glover, then avery young man, who had just ; 
ated in Philadelphia, became quite distinguished. 
skill in this direction must have been conspicuous is p D 
by this Society, in after years, having appointed a Com 
tee to report upon his most remarkable cases, of whieh 
late Dr. John Bellinger was Chairman, from which re 
published by the request of the Society we gather some 
teresting and important facts. One of his first capital oj 


15 


ations was the excision of the spleen, A negro of Major 
Pinckney was stabbed in the lett hypochondriac region, the 
cartilages of two of the false ribs were divided, some of the 
omentum protruded and part of the spleen, and much blood 
was lost. He was brought from Moultrieville, and the next 
day, August 12, 1801, at 11 o'clock, the operation was per- 
formed, as the parts presented a gangrenous condition. The’ 
protruded omentum and a very large part of the spleen were 
cut away, and a branch of the splenic artery had to be 
secured with needle and ligature, the wound closed by suture 
and plasters. The ligatures separated early and the healing 
process was rapid. This successful case attracted much. at- 
tention, since the only case familiarly known just then, was 
that reported by Cheselden, though three or four similar 
instanees had also been published by British Surgeons. 

Dr. Glover’s predilection for Ophthalmic Surgery gained 
him great fame. His reputation as an oculist is within the 
memory of the present day. So extensive was his practice 
in this branch of surgery, that patients from all parts of this 
und adjoining States journeyed to Charleston to avail them- 
selves of his skall. 

Among the capital operations which added largely to his 
fame was a case of successful Lithotomy; it was reckoned 
the third case which had occurred in this City, the two first 
cases, report ascribed to a Dr. Turner, of Connecticut, who 
visited this City by invitation for this purpose. 

Excision of an inverted uterus, possibly malignant, meas- 
uring eleven inches in length, eighteen in circumference, 
and weighing five pounds, with rapid recovery, must also 
be added to this list. . 

Tlowever, his reputation abroad was perhaps particularly 
secured by his advocating and performing the puncturing of 
the head for the cure of chronic hydrocephalus tollowed by 
compression. 

Commenting upon this operation, the New York Wedical 
Journal of July, 1818, remarks: ‘ We are indebted to that 
ancient and respectable institution, the Medical Society of 
South Carolina, for the publication of this case, one which 


16 


extends the practical domain of Surgery, discloses new 
physiological phenomena, and withal furnishes us with new 
and interesting facts respecting a fatal and frequent disease.” 
Published in varied directions we meet it again in the Ed. 
Med. Surg. Journ. and in the Arch. Gen. de Med,, in which 
dricheteau gives Glover priority over Sir Gilbert Blaine in 
the use of the bandage in the treatrnent of hydrocephalus. 

Dr. Bellinger, in an official report emanating from this 
Society, on the labors and life of Dr. Glover, expresses lis 
belief: “tbat at home he will long be remembered for his 
zealous promotion of the objects of our association, and for 
his boldness, dexterity, and snecess, as a Surgeon; whilst 
abroad his fame will rest upon his having fearlessly under- 
taken, and having skilfully accomplished operations for the 
performance of which the records of medicine furnish so 
few precedents.” 


SAMUEL HENRY DICKSON. 


In a long list of worthy names, the personal remembrance 
of those of a later date crowd around me as among the most 
pleasing memories of the past, but when [ recall the most 
important medical event perhaps connected with this Society, 
the name of Samuel Henry Dickson immediately presents 
itself. To speak of him is to speak of the Medical College. 
But to speak of him is also a privilege and a prompting of 
love. It is a happy thought that there are those among us 
still who will echo all that might be said of Carolina’s dis- 
tinguished son. The touching recollections of a bold, in- 
genuous, and sympathizing heart, soothingly affiliated with 
elegance of address and captivating manners, would alone 
declare the value everyone attached to his friendship and 
example; but the atHuence of his mental resources, and the 
chastened harmonies of his elocutionary utterances gave 
him a predominance in colloquial discourse which eom- 
manded attention while it enlightened and always pleased. 
Worshiped literally among those who knew him best, courted 
by the ambitious young, caressed by the favors of the en- 
lightened and influential: the seductiveness of the soeial 





W 


cirele where he reigned supreme, constituted for him natu- 
rally an attractive enjoyment: yet no one realized better 
than he that the adulations of friends and the blandishments 
of society were scarcely more permanent than pleasing re- 
laxations: that in the rapid current of the flood of time 
there was little rest from protracted work for those in the 
front rank, and indeed this pleasure in work was luis impulse 
even in early life, for he entered Yale College at thirteen 
years, and in order that he might graduate with his elder 
brother, a vacation spent in laborious collegiate work ac- 
complished the purpose, he graduating at the early age of 
sixteen. Even so young his dialectic readiness and ornate 
diétion made such an impress upon the Phi Beta Kappa 
Society of Yale, that he was called in 1842 to deliver the 
charming address which some of us so well remember. 

We have said that as the chief originator of our Medical 
College the name of Dickson becomes synonymous with the 
highest type of medical education in the South, in the svm- 
metrical and comprehensive culture which the establishment 
of a college afforded for the evolution and development of 
that systematized knowledge that descends to us through 
academic teachings alone. 

It is true that in 1803 Dr. David Ramsay in his resolution 
before the Society proposed that two of its members be 
elected to ‘‘read lectures” on Anatomy, Surgery, Midwifery 
and Chemistry; that Drs. Philip Prioleau and Benj. Simons 
were chosen; and that an address to the inhabitants of the 
State recommending them to encourage these lectures insti- 
tuted by the Society were carried into effect, but this germ- 
idea met with no success. 

It was to Dr. Dickson’s early and ambitious scheme, im- 
mediately after his graduation in Philadelphia, in 1819, 
made known to his friend, Dr. Isaac Motte Campbell, that 
we owe the Medical College in Charleston. Dr. Campbell 
was urged to take the chair of anatomy, but declined in 
favor of Dr. J. KE. Horlbrook. This College, under the 
auspices of the Medical Society went into operation in 
1822, in a little wooden building of modest dimensions that 


18 


not many years since stood within the College Campus in 
the present site of onr Janitor’s rooms, where among the 
first to attend and register his name as a student was Eli 
Geddings, from Abbeville. ; 

In 1823, the Legislature granted the power of conferring 
diplomas, It must be remembered that this individual en- 
terprise was self-sustaining in its early struggles, (and these 
were great and many, had we time to recount them), as 
neither the State nor the Society shared expenses. Yet, se 
completely was this progressive institution regarded as an 
outgrowth of the Society, that upon this rests a bit of his- 
tory, the consideration of which we must pretermit for the 
present. 

Dr. Dickson was born in 1798, in this City, on King 
Street, the site where Mr. Poppenheim’s store now stands, 
and died March 31, 1872, in Philadelphia. THe was called 
to the New York University in 1847, remained three years 
and returned again to his professional chair in this College. 
In 1858, in response to another call to the Jefterson School, 
in Philadelphia, he reluctantly left us again never to return, 

[lis beautiful style as a writer made his volume of Medi- 
eal Essays the most attractive specimens of medical litera- 
ture in America. His work on Practice served as his text- 
book to his classes, and his journal contributions are valua- 
ble and original records. 

A collection of all his introductory addresses, publie ora- 
tions in one volume, called Varia, furnish illustrations of a 
pure and elegant style. 


J. LAWRENCE SMITH. 


Of one whose notable death has just been announced, who 
Was once an enthusiastic member of this Society until an 
ampler field of labor called him to a distant State I must 
most affectionately speak. What a rush of memories flows 


out in tender love to the companion of my former years, to 


the exemplar of my then ambitious dreams, to the friend of 
my student days, when | pronounce the name of .J. Lawrence 
Smith. Associated with him for years in Paris, in that 


19 


vortex of attraction, amidst the allurements of dissipation - 
and the blandishments of vice, | would bear attestation to 
the purity of his character and the generosity of his nature. 
A lite consecrated from boyhood to the pleasant paths of 
science, his only obvious aim was an earnest and determined 
search atter truth. His researches in the domains of science, 
with a genius that knew no rest; that would not if it could 
evade its destiny, won for him in early hfe the admiration 
of a Pelouz and the commendation of a Liebig. 

Ilis varied discoveries in chemistry, mineralogy and ge- 
ology, placed him in the front ranks of distinguished scien- 
tists; but of these labors Prof. Silliman will record their 
worth in the proposed memoirs to the National Academy of 
Science, when we shall learn the value set upon them by those 
appointed to speak, though we well know already that they 
served to load him with honors rarely attained by any other 
American, when the final discovery of a new mineral 





mosandum—caused his election as successor to Sir Charles 
Lyell, to the Institute of France, the highest honor within 
the gift of the scientific world. 

It gives me emotions of pain mingled with pride in ofter- 
ing this inadequate tribute to the memory of a frieud and 
of this Society’s former associate. The brief tribute Hows 
from my heart as it does from my pen as the mournful 
dream of a day, a day long gone by, when we wandered to- 
gether with happy hearts through the wide domains of 
science, 

LIBRARY. 

Of our Library we should surely say something, for it 
Was among the earliest public medical collections in this 
country, indeed it stood third in the order of succession of 
such as ranked foremost among the valuable archives of our 
science. The nucleus of our cuce well-known and impor- 
tant library was the joint donation of Drs. Robert and Samuel 
Wilson, at a meeting held at the house of Dr. Budd on the 
twenty-sixth of February, 1791, The library of the Penn- 
sylvania Hospital was first in point of time, for this was 
founded in 1760; the second was that of the College of 


20 





Physicians in Philadelphia, founded in 1788. The Library 
of the Medical Society of Charleston, as above stated, may 
be said to have begun in 1791, while the New York Hos 
pital Library, fourth in order, was not established until 1796. 

Countless manuscripts and old volumes, donations from 
various sources, together with such classic and foreign works 
of standard authority as were purchased also by the society, 
continued for years to enrich our collection: whieh, betore- 
the ravages of war disorganized and in part destroyed by 
losses the numerous volumes that composed it, constituted 
an accessible field for bibliographical research ; since in an 
empirical and progressive science like that of medicine, 
books of ancient date soon become obscure on many and 
obsolete on most points; though, deeply important and 
absolutely essential as references of the progress of thought, 
and as such therefore must ever serve to thread together 
the mazy intricacies of scientific theories and data, that are 
the material out. of which truth is ultimately evolved, 
Tere, still, these venerable volumes stand, in creased and 
seared leaves covered with dust—the unavoidable associate 
of protracted repose—and from these book-enconrpassed 
walls these at least autocrats of thought stand crowned 
immortal in the reverence we bear them, though of omin- 
ous Import to those of us who with our poet would ask; 

“Q! Sexton of the aleoved tomb, 

W here souls in leathered cerements lic, 
Tell mewach living author’s doom! 
How long before his book shall die.” 

In connection with the subject of books, it is noteworthy 
that from some of our collaborators in this Society emanated 
at difterent periods two medical journals: one of which was 
the earliest medical periodical published in the South. The 
Curolina Journal, edited by Drs. Thomas Y, Simons, and my 
father, Dr. William Michel, was published in 1822 and though — 
of brief duration, its volumes, now rare, contained among 
original monographs on various subjects from different 
sources, also many of the papers read before this Society by 
its members at their monthly meetings. 


zt 


The Southern Medical and Surgical Journal originated with 
Drs. J. Lawrence Smith and S. D. Sinkler in 1845. Under 
the editorship of these gentlemen this journal soon became 
the recognized representative monthly periodical throughout 
the South, and it certainly sustained this reputation through 
the energy and ability of its several successive editors when 
unavoidable circumstances of a very recent date led reluc- 
tantly to its abandonment. 

A SEAL OF THE SOCIETY. 

It was an inquiry among us not, long since whether our 
Society, in its corporate capacity, possessed any seal, motto, 
or deyice to ratify its acts. Now it appears they had been 
but a short time in existence when one of its inembers, Dr. 
Charles Lewis Seeger, informed the Society that he intended 
to leave the State, and reside in Europe, and therefore re- 
requested a “certificate” of his being a member. A com- 
mittee, consisting of Drs. Samuel Wilson, James Moultrie, 
Wm. Handy, and the Treasurer, Dr. D. Ramsay, were ap- 
pointed February 25, 1792, to draw up the form of a ‘“cer- 
tificate of admission,” to be given to those applying for the 
same, and to frame a device for a seal and motto. At the 
meeting in March the committee reported as follows : 


SOCIETAS MEDICA CAROLIN.Z AUSTRALIS, 
Anno Domint 1789 Insrirura. 


Omnibus ad quos hee pervenerint salutem. Ornate Viro—qui 
in numerum nostrum anno fuit admissus, (quique medicinam 
insigni cum commodo mortalium, suaque laude maxima fecit) hoc 
munus liberis sociorum suffragiis lubentissime conceditur. Diu vivat 
et floreat patriz, scientiarumque decus ; utque societas, haec semper- 
illius, sic ejusdem memor perstat. In quorum fidem communi 
societatis sigillo munito, nomina nostra subscripsimus. 

Carolopoli, anno salutis humane, millessimo octingentesimo, &c.. 
mensis, die. 


THE SEAL, 
HEAD OF DR. FRANKLIN. 


Sigillum Societatis Medice, Caroline Australis. 










This imperfect sketch of the past history 
with all the memories of its early ambition, its 
fulness of future fame, its conscious pride of 
ence and power, is pregnant with the admont 
glory of an institution is but the reflex of the- 
its individual members; and that to the present tm 
is transmitted the responsibility of perpetuating t 
perity of the Society. } 


LIST OF THE PRESIDENTS 


1790 to 1792, 
1795 to 1795, 
1796 to 1797, 
1798 to 1799, 
1800 to 1801, 
1802 to 1803, 
1804 to 1805, 
1806 to 1807, 
1808 to 1809, 
1810 to 1811, 
1812 to 1813, 
1814 to 1815, 
1816 to 1818, 
1819 to 1820, 
1821 to 1822, 
1823 to 1824, 
1825 to 1826, 
1827 

1828 

1729 to 1850, 
1831 to 1832, 
1833 to 1834, 
1835 to 1836, 
1837 to 1838. 
1839 to 1840, 
1841 to 1842, 
1843 to 1844, 
1845 to 1846, 
1847 to 1848, 
1849 to 1850, 
1851 to 1852, 
1853 to 1854, 
1855 to 1856, 
1857 to 1858, 
1859 to 1860, 
1861 to 1862, 
1863 to 1865, 
1866 to 1867, 
1868 to 1869, 
1870 to 1871, 
1872 to 1873, 
1874 to 1875, 
1876 to L877. 
1878 to 1879, 
1880 to 1883, 
1884 to 1885, 
1886 to 1887. 
1888 to 1889, 


OF THE 


Aledical Society of South A avolinis. 


ee ee = 
PETER FAYSSOUX. 
ALEXANDER BARON. 
TUCKER HARRIS. 
DAVID RAMSAY. 
ISAAC CHANLER. 
SAMUEL WILSON. 
JAMES MOULTRIE. 
PHILIP G. PRIOLEAU. 
JOSEPH JOHNSON. 
JOSEPH GLOVER. 
ROBERT WILSON. 
JOHN P. GOUGH. 
JAMES E. B. FINLEY. 
THOMAS AKIN. 
JAMES MOULTRIE, Jr. 
JOSEPH MANNING. 
THOMAS G. PRIOLEAU. 
MATTHEW IRVINE. 
GEORGE LOGAN. 
THOMAS Y. SIMMONS. 
ISAAC M. CAMPBELL. 
FRANCIS Y. PORCHER, 
E. W. NORTH. 

C. B. WHITRIDGE. 
ELIAS HORLBECK. 
ALEXANDER E. GADSDEN. 
SAMUEL P. JERVEY. 
HENRY WINTHROP. 
EK. H. DEAS. 

WM. T. WRAGG. 

T. L. OGIEK. 

H. R. FROST. 

P. C. GAILLARD. 

H. W. DESAUSSURE. 
JOHN L. DAWSON. 

J. D: CAIN, 

J. P. CHAZAL. 

. J. CHISOLM. 

R. A. KINLOCH. 

F. M. ROBERTSON. 

J. FORD PRIOLEAU. 

F. PEYRE PORCHER. 
J.F. M. GEDDINGS. 

F. L. PARKER. 
MIDDLETON MICHEI.. 
J. SOMER~ BUIST. 

H. W. DESAUSSURE. 
M. SIMONS. 











